Posts Tagged ‘failbetter’

Normally, if anything that I enjoyed were to add realtime combat, I’d plan a protest immediately. Whether I’m playing a game or chewing a pint of Grandfather’s Stout at the Dog & Whistle, the last thing I want is to find myself involved in a fight that doesn’t pause while I’m planning my next move. If it’s fisticuffs in the Whistle’s snug, I expect Tommy Champion to take a breather while I figure out whether to leg it or lob a tankard at his noggin. If it’s a naval shoot-out in a murky undersea realm…well, in the case of Sunless Sea I’m very glad that the move to realtime combat has been made. The pace and repetition of combat was just about the only thing that bothered me in Failbetter’s splendid creation.

Before discussing information about the upcoming combat redesign in the splendidSunless Sea, I’ll share some information that you may already know. Failbetter’s collaboration with Bioware is not related to the recently announcedShadow Realms, which means there’s still something to look forward to even though Gamescom has chugged its last energy drink and collapsed for another year. We should all concentrate our excitement on Sunless Sea for now because it’s shifting and swelling like a lunatic tide. Details in the briny deeps below.

We’re deep down now, deep down where dreams and figments tumble and churn together like silt, deep down in sleep, where pain and sorrow fall drop by drop into the Sunless Sea, and wisdom comes in whispers of text and through the rubbery fronds of some ancient lifeform. Now in Early Access, Sunless Sea is the first ‘proper’ game from Failbetter, the clever-clogs creators of Fallen London and the Story Nexus platform. I’ve been navigating its strange shores for the past few days.

If I had my way, everybody who reads RPS would have at least a nodding acquaintance with the writing of Failbetter Games. The showcase for the tiny English studio’s talents is the free to play, browser-based RPG/adventure Fallen London, built in their own StoryNexus engine. Understandably, some people don’t want to invest time and (potentially) money into a fragmented narrative, which requires players to pay or to pause between play sessions.

Good news arrives in the form of Sunless Sea, a new showcase for Failbetter’s magnificent worldbuilding in the form of the most RPS-friendly game I’ve seen for some time. Steampunk ships undertake FTL-inspired voyages of “discovery, survival and loneliness”, while crews face down vast tentacled horrors, risking life, limb and sanity. Watch the first in-game footage below and keep an eye on the log at the bottom-left.

Our lengthy conversation with Alexis Kennedy and Paul Arendt of Failbetter Games continues, with mysterious, enigmatic and untold tales of Fallen London, details of the nightmarish voyages undertaken by the captains of the Sunless Sea, and adventures in the mind of a dead god. If you haven’t read part one, you’ll find it here. If you have, jump right in.